The Arizona sentinel., 1887-11-26

l .. Nebraska. This address furnishes va unable evidence concerning phenomena whose importance can scarcely be over estimated.
 With regard to changes which have made Western Nebraska attractive General Morrow said:
 "Has the climate of Western Ne nraska changed within the last few years, and is it still undergoing mod icationl thing it is safe to say that he climate of ali the Northwestern States has undergone and 1t still un- derGone and is still undergoing change ill respect to the amount of moisture annually deposited in the form of rain and tew. From observa ions running through ten years in Eastern Nebraska, it may be consider cd as an established fact that there are Iiore ra;ny days in the year than there were formerly. It is within my OWL knowledge that the climate of this
 ortion of Nebraska has undergone a great change since 1 first visited it twenty years ago. When 1 came to this country first, and for many years afterward, there was no such thing as dew. It was common saying among officers and soldiers, and the same was said by fur traders and trappers, that a man might sleep in the open air from May to DecaMber without having his blanket dampened. You all know that this is not the case to-day. l nave seen ill the month of August of the present year dews as heavy as l saw at the same season in Michigan or Arkansas. I state unhesitatingly that he climate of this section and of East ern Wyoming has undergone a very great chang. in respect to the amour or moisture deposited during the spring and summer months."
 To show that the climate of coun- try is modified by cultivation and set tlement. he referred to his experience at Fort Douglass, in Utah. This pos was established in 1861, and in that year the recorded rainfall there was only eleven inches. General Morrow was in command at the post from 1870 to 1874, and in the last-named year the railfall, which had been gradually increasing from year to year," reached twenty-seven inches The greater part of this rain fell Il. the spring and summer months. al though it is reported by the Mormons that in IS47 and for several years afterward there was in these months scarcely any precipitation of moisture.
 Having asserted that Gin every new country the rainfall increased in pro portion as the land comes under cult. gation," General Morrow under ook to account for this increase, and his ex planation was so interesting that we reproduce it:
 q have always thought that there was an-abundance of moisture in the -louds of this interior section, but that conditions favorable to it's preci pitation in the form of rain and dew were wanting. The earth and the sky are reciprocal in their relations. They ,lve to and take from each other. A parched desert, having nothing to give n return, receive no moisture from the passing clouds. For countless ages these prair have been scorched bv ires, p,i.ed Ly storms of rain and hail Oram..led npon by innumerable herds of wild animals The effect of this has been to pack the earth until il, has become as compact as a rock. The forcing or heating power of rain or hail is far gr1ater than the ordinary obserVer compretends When ths rain falls on primitive soil the lar ger part O. its runs off in torrents and inds it's way to the sea. The baked, torm-beaten and trampled earth, like . sick man, refuses it's nourishment. Beyond doubt this is the reason why vou have so many physical proofs around you of enormous devastations committed by running water When the land is titled this will cease. Gull tivated ground absorbs large portion Jf the water that falls upon 1t, and re tains it like sponge. It thus becomes
 reservoir of moisture for the nourish nent of crops in season of drought The turninp over of inc soi in ro,e